The Challenge

The City of Hercules works to comprehensively connect with its residents and communicate City news, civic engagement topics and maintain a solid brand within the community as it aims to grow into a mid-sized hub for transportation, culture and family living. The City tapped Tripepi Smith for support in developing and maintaining strategic communications through a number of services and projects in an ongoing partnership over the last several years, since an initial Express Communications Assessment in 2021.

Our Approach
  • Biweekly check-in and strategy calls – The City meets with the Tripepi Smith team on a bi-weekly basis to discuss and strategize communication plans regarding current and upcoming City projects, news and media monitoring notes. The teams collaboratively determine a social media calendar and any necessary course of action in responding to questions and comments or hot topics in the community.
  • Review Council Agendas – Tripepi Smith regularly reviews the City Council meeting agendas to inform the planned topics for social media and relevant opportunities for press releases.
  • Social Media Management – Tripepi Smith implements the social media calendar agreed upon during biweekly meetings and creates content for Facebook, Instagram and Nextdoor. Content is collaboratively reviewed by the Hercules team and distributed through Sprout Social or natively. The TS team also performs daily monitoring of the City’s platforms and tracks for opportunities to answer questions and gather feedback and sentiment from comments.
  • Regular press releases – Tripepi Smith and the City work together to determine relevant opportunities to develop and distribute press releases monthly. Topics covered include promotion of major events, announcement of funding wins for major City projects and updates on City developments and news. Tripepi Smith also supports the development of media statements to the community when addressing news and sensitive matters.
  • Monthly metrics report – Each month, Tripepi Smith produces a social media dashboard report for the City, its Parks and Recreation and Police Department’s social media channels. This includes tracking impressions and engagement metrics, posting activity/quantity and analysis of topic interest within the community.
  • Quarterly Strategic Communications meetings – The City and Tripepi Smith hold Quarterly Strategic Communications meetings with Hercules department heads. TS reports on quarterly metrics and reviews departmental highlights for the quarter ahead to anticipate relevant communication needs.
  • Projects:
    • Educational materials and outreach
      • Prop 218 Ballot Measure – UUT Extension, Sewer & LLAD – Tripepi Smith, the City of Hercules and additional consultants have collaborated on education outreach efforts for recent ballot measures regarding rate increases for City services such as sewer and the Victoria by the Bay Landscaping and Lighting District, as well as the extension of the City’s Utility User Tax. Tripepi Smith has assisted with:
        • Managing informational webpages with resources and archives
        • Developing talking points and FAQ development
        • Developing and distributing educational content and meeting notices on social media
        • Developing and distributing notices and mailers
        • Facilitating community workshops
        • Producing informative animated videos
      • Finance – Tripepi Smith has produced several videos and promotional materials to educate the public about the City’s complex budget and financial management processes. Animated videos explaining the City’s budget and revenue have been shared via social media in association with notices for upcoming annual budget hearings.
    • Branding and Anniversary logo – Hercules sought out Tripepi Smith to help develop new branding guidelines, branded templates and a new logo to complement the Hercules seal. This initiative, a separate extension of the City’s general communications engagement, included interviews with City staff and Councilmembers and an online survey to gather feedback from the community. The City Council approved a final logo design after taking input and discussion from community stakeholders. Tripepi Smith delivered updated branding assets, including a Style Guide, business cards, email signature, Zoom backgrounds, Microsoft Word and Powerpoint themes and flyer templates. The new logo and style guide elements are now featured in the City of Hercules’ social media graphics as well as the City’s monthly newsletter, the Hercules Herald.
    • Goal Setting – In another major initiative, the City of Hercules engaged Tripepi Smith Talent Solutions (TSTS) to facilitate a goal-setting process that resulted in the adoption of seven strategic goals for the Fiscal Years 2024-2026. TSTS collaborated with the City Council to determine concerns and priorities and concluded the process with a report summarizing the Council’s goals and included reportable objectives identified by City staff to aid the City Council in measuring their progress.
Results

Tripepi Smith tracks the City’s growth across communications platforms month-to-month and also looks at broader trends during Quarterly Strategic Communications.

From February 2022 through Q2 2025, the total number of followers across City Facebook, City Instagram and City Nextdoor showed over 50% growth from 9,089, increasing to 14,030 by June 2025. In just one quarter, Q1 to Q2 2025, overall (Facebook, Instagram and Nextdoor) social media metrics growth is as follows:

  • Total Followers: 13,776 (+2.3%)
  • Total Posts: 142 (+29.1%)
  • Total Engagements: 101,383 (+21.4%)
  • Total Impressions: 7,976 (+88.2%)

Tripepi Smith’s multi-faceted partnerships with the City of Hercules have positively impacted its ability to intentionally communicate and address the City’s goals. Public education of important matters such as ballot measures, fiscal management processes and major projects facilitates a civically-engaged community. The promotion of a refreshed Hercules’ brand further represents the City’s progress and solidified identity. With continued application of the City’s strategic goals and branding elements in communications efforts, we see this community buy-in reflected in consistent growth across platforms.